We had a 10.30pm overnight train to Chennai (aka Madras), so we spent the day at Ashtamudi Villas relaxing. David and I played chess on our nice new board with carved wooden pieces that we bought in Delhi. Megan conquered her fear of falling coconuts and lay in a hammock. I blitzed Trip Advisor with reviews of all the places we'd stayed and eaten at. We took a rickshaw to the station to leave our luggage, found they only accept locked suitcases, took all our packs on another rickshaw to the Wok & Grill, where we were greeted like long lost friends ("and don't forget to write about us on Trip Advisor"). We picked up supplies for breakfast at the next-door supermarket and returned to the railway station. The train arrived on time - like Mussolini, the Communist state government in Kerala seems much better at keeping to timetables than they are in the north - and got varying degrees of sleep as the train headed east to Chennai.
We arrived at 11am, found our hotel after some searching in the back streets and headed out for the shopping malls. The general idea was souvenirs for friends and family but instead - sorry everyone - we discovered a sports shoe store with Nikes for NZ$35. No Laxon (or Johnston) could go past that. The staff seemed a bit stunned as we bought shoes for everyone, plus a few extras. For our last night we went to the Raintree restaurant at the Taj Connemara Hotel, one of the old-style Raj buildings in Chennai. It was a stunning meal, sort of South Indian degustation. David and I had the thali, which is usually rice with a few accompanying bowls of curry. This one had noodles, bread and six different dipping sauces, plus starters, soup and dessert. As for the cocktails, Heather declared her mojito was the best she'd ever tasted, which is really saying something. There was a ritual round-the-table poll of what we enjoyed most about India and what we were looking forward to most about being back home.
The results were
Joanna: The beach at Goa/my room.
Megan: The art and taking photos/seeing my friends again.
Heather: Sharing India with my children/sharing a bed with Andrew (good to hear).
Andrew: Goa, with a highly commended to Kerala and the Himalayas/playing tennis again (Heather seemed slightly offended by this).
David: Travelling in general and having new experiences every day/drinking water straight from the tap.
I'm finishing this off on the plane as we fly back from Chennai to Kuala Lumpur, where we will hopefully we get wifi to post it. Thanks to everyone who stuck with us - especially our most prolific correspondents, Anne and Kaila - we're looking forward to seeing you all soon.
Pictures: Heather at Ashtamudi Villas, Megan and Joanna with jasmine garlands at the Raintree restaurant, family pack shot (you can work out who's who).
Oh love the final post and thanks to the lovely Laxon family for the fabulous descriptions of the long adventure, for taking us along for the ride, being honest about the bad and delighted by the great. Excellent summaries. Safe journey home. Sounds like am too late to let you know foot size is a dependable 39 European?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anne! What a wonderful (and wonderfully written) ride you've shared with us. Thank you for taking the time to do so.
ReplyDeleteJust for fun I must identify the packs from left to right:
1. Heather, because the Mumma always carries the heaviest load.
2. Andrew, because of the pink accents.
3.&4. Megan and Joanna, because they certainly would want matching packs.
5. David, by process of elimination.
PS
ReplyDeleteVery glad to have you all home and looking forward to seeing David drinking out of the taps at church. Maybe after a week or so we can get him to use a glass?